Monthly Archives: March 2011

I had to login to Facebook today. I’m getting so many messages from people who need different things and they don’t know I’m on Lent. The problem is, I can’t reach them by email because I don’t know their email. So I had to shoot off 2 messages recently from Facebook.

Like this:

Let’s just be honest, many men don’t truly value their wives. Let me be more honest, I have not always valued my wife the way God expects me to. For that, I am eternally in debt to my amazing wife.

My guess is that most of you who read this blog have probably heard a song by Bruno Mars called, “Just The Way Your Are.” I’m not necessarily a fan of Bruno Mars personally, but I truly enjoy this song and wish that all men felt this way about their wives.

I want to challenge every man out there who has a spouse, is engaged or who would like to be married some day; when you have a wife, cherish her, love her, sacrifice for her, die on the side of a mountain for her. It doesn’t matter to me if you are on to your second or third marriage (or more), but if you will love your wife the way God intends, you will see your marriage bloom into something amazing.

Ephesians 5 offers some guiding principles. Some people take offense to them. Men believe they can never live up to them. But let me tell you where God stands on your marriage. God says this in Ephesians 5:25-27 (Message)…

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church-a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness.

Your love for your wife should reflect the love Jesus has for the church. Jesus died for the church!

Your love for your wife should make her whole and complete. Does your love for her leave her feeling as if she is whole and complete? Or does she feel like something is missing?

Your love for your wife should bring out her best to your family and the world. How do you speak about your wife to your friends, neighbors and co-workers? Is she the “old ball and chain?” Or is she so much more than that to you?

Your love for your wife should bring out the best in her. If something isn’t right, don’t blame her first. Look at yourself and ask if you’re doing everything in your power to bring out the best in her or are you putting her in no-win situations.

Your love for your wife should have her looking holy, blameless and radiant to everyone on the planet. Can you say that you do that for your wife?

This passage is a great challenge. I believe that if men took it on fully, they would find the most satisfying and rewarding relationship with their wives. Everything would change if men would follow through on their role in the family. I wish I could say that I have lived this perfectly. I strive for this standard, but often I fall miserably short.

I mentioned Bruno Mars because I think that men (and women) go into a marriage or relationship thinking the other person will change. We often view the other as a project or someone we can fix. And when that philosophy doesn’t pan out, we give up. The relationship ends. And in many cases, the lives of those involved will never be the same.

So I’m posting the Bruno Mars song (I can’t vouch for comments on YouTube nor can I vouch for the ads). You should listen to it. Bruno isn’t perfect either I’m sure, but the words say a lot about how men should look at their wives (not other women walking by, by the way). And at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, I have even imagined Jesus singing this song to the church. When the church is on its game, smiling like Jesus knows we can, the whole world takes notice.

God has given you a helper, men. And when you treat her the way God expects, you will not experience a better relationship with anyone, ever, on this planet. So get out there and love your wife like you’re supposed to. Sacrifice for her. Bring out the best in her. Never leave her.

Like this:

I can’t even begin to comprehend how the people of Japan are feeling. I won’t even begin to pretend I understand. Because I don’t. I don’t understand or comprehend what it must feel like to lose thousands (possibility of that number going up into the tens of thousands) of your countrymen in a matter of hours while nuclear reactors leak radiation into the air which will ultimately lead to a sad and painful death for some of the workers. I don’t understand it, but I know it bothers me. And I hurt for them.

One thing I do know, what’s happening there reaffirms for me that we were designed for so much more. We weren’t created for this. We were created for more. For better. For perfection. For eternity.

I know that I’m not the only Christian hurting for the people of Japan or thinking about them constantly. I also know that some people are waiting on the Pat Robertson’s of the world to say something ridiculous. Well, they got it, but it didn’t come from Pat. It came from this man…Reverend David Cho.

The Reverend David Cho leads an Assembly of God church in Korea with more than one million members. Before Pat Robertson could get his speech together, Pastor Cho had this to say…

Because the Japanese people shun God in terms of their faith and follow idol worship, atheism, and materialism, it makes me wonder if this was not God’s warning to them.

Let’s assume for sake of argument that Pastor Cho is right. Let’s say that this awful tragedy in Japan, was done by the very hand of God and it is His judgment on their country for their idol worship, etc. Let’s say that God appeared in the sky and spoke in all languages simultaneously to tell us all that the tragedy in Japan was His idea, His plan and that He would take all the credit (blame). Let’s just say that everything I just wrote is accurate. With that in mind, how do Pastor Cho’s comments help this situation in any way? Even if we could say with 100% accuracy that this was an act of God’s judgment, do his comments help any of the dying and hurting in Japan? Wouldn’t he be of better use if he mobilized his one million members to get to Japan immediately and make a difference for Christ in the lives of the Japanese?

Let me be perfectly clear, I, 100% do not agree with this man’s comments. They are uncalled for and out of place. They only add to the hurt and make Christians around the world look like self-righteous jerks.

Pastor Cho, from me to you, please don’t talk about this anymore. Get down from your million-member pedestal. Get involved in a messy world, as Jesus did. Use your influence to share a message of hope, grace & forgiveness with the people of Japan as Jesus did with the woman caught in adultery. Love those who are without hope the way Jesus did. Don’t speak. Act on the grace that has been given you. You have that platform for a reason. Please, don’t use it to add pain to the people of Japan or to hurt the cause of Christ.

Is it me or does Lady Gaga’s song, “Born This Way,” make absolutely no sense?

I like Dunkin’ Donuts. I love Starbucks.

I’m brainstorming, “NOVA’s Largest Easter Event.” What do you think about a skydiving Easter bunny?

Did anyone else notice how freaking awesome the weather was today (at least in NOVA)? Heaven will be like today, only every day.

I wish I could afford to fly to Japan.

My legs still hurt from a leg workout I did on Tuesday. Guess it’s been a while since my legs were forced to lift some weight. I’d like to thank my brother-in-law, Josh, for nothing. Nothing but pain.

Today was a long day. Dropped my sister and her husband off at the airport first thing in the morning. An hour and a half in DC traffic, followed by an hour in DC traffic to get to work. Two meetings (which were both good) followed. Knocked out a couple projects at the office. Headed home. Hung out outside for a while because as I stated earlier, the weather was freaking awesome today. God descended on North Virginia in 70 degrees, a slight breeze and a lot of sun. Grilled some burgers for dinner. Now, off to hang with some guys and watch some March Madness.

Nothing much spiritual here today, only a small glimpse into the wheels turning in my head as I went through the day.

Like this:

Since last Wednesday, I have been fasting from social media. I have given up Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare and more for Lent. This has turned out to be a great decision for me personally! I am finding myself with so much more time for more meaningful things. With the exception of a few moments, I really haven’t missed social media that much. To be honest, I really needed to contact someone the other day and I thought I could get their info from Facebook. Instead of logging on, I chose to email someone who could give me their info. It was a close call.

I’m not being legalistic about my decision, but I do want to honor the promise I have made to God as well. It seems as if things are going the right direction. I feel like things are clearing up for me. Now that I have given God more of my time, it feels as if He is trying to capitalize on it. I don’t believe I have all the answers and I certainly don’t believe I have arrived at some state of spiritual nirvana from which I can go no higher, but I do believe God is showing me some things.

I believe that social media is here to stay. It may not always exist in its current form, but I think that social media in some form will be with us for a very long time. That being said, God is the Beginning and the End. God existed before social media and will continue to exist long after its gone. God is showing me that social media can be a tool for ministry and that’s it. Just a tool. Social media is not life. It is not the cure all for what ails you. Social media when used properly, can be a great tool for connecting, networking and even caring for people you know. But sometimes I act as if social media is somehow life. That somehow my worthiness is wrapped up in how many people comment on a picture or “like” a status update. If people don’t RT me, somehow I’m less of a man. But this simply isn’t true.

God created me with a purpose. He has big plans for me, plans that He designed for me (and for you) before I was even born (Ephesians 2:10). And social media is not the plan. It might be a tool that goes along with the plan, but it isn’t the plan! I’m going to continue seeking God’s face and clinging to Him in times when social media used to reign supreme. And in those moments I will wait to see what God has in store.

Like this:

Today was a whirlwind for me. I woke up a little later than normal since today was my “day off.” I spent some time reading Scripture and giving God my top priority in the morning. From there, it was pretty insane.

While I waited for the set to be ready, I worked on my lesson (sermon) for Sunday morning.

Shot the video from 11-12pm.

Walked around the nZone to get the latest updates on construction. Speaking of, you have to go to that link and watch some of our webcams. New Life Christian Church is doing the coolest thing and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a small part of it. If you want to see the live cams, simply click the cam you want to watch. Your browser will ask you for a username and password. Type in “guest” as the username and leave the password blank. Awesome stuff is happening here! And speaking of my tour, this was the hardest part of my day in terms of breaking Lent. I so wanted to tweet about what I was seeing. I held strong though.

Went home and scarfed down lunch at like 1:20.

Finally got my 4 year old daughter a big girl bed (since she was still sleeping on her crib mattress). I know, father of the year.

Bought her some new sheets and pillows to make it more girly. I didn’t think she would like sleeping on just the mattress.

Shipped off an ebay item I sold.

Back home to my new “office” and started slaying more work on my sermon.

Boys came home from school. Both of them had fevers. They did not have good days. Again, father of the year right here.

Slammed down some dinner before “Family Night” with two sick sons.

For family night we (they) watched “Megamind.” I had a couple more errands to run.

Knocked out the errands and then back home in time to tuck the kids in bed.

What an awesome day off!

I’m finishing up my lesson for Sunday. I think it’s going to be good. Can I say that about my own sermon? Is that okay? God has helped me to use my time well this week without other distractions keeping me from Him. He has kept me focused on what’s most important and I really believe He is doing a great work. I’m so thankful for this great start to Lent. I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for me and you. I’ll be back soon to share more.

Like this:

As a heads up, I probably won’t blog every single day for 46 days. Let’s just go ahead and set that expectation up front. If I tried that, I’d probably go crazy.

Oh, come on. Not that crazy!

However, I wanted to make note of a couple of things about my first day without social media.

1) Only one person sent me a txt to ask if I was going crazy or not. Honestly, I’m hurt. I really don’t know if this is a good or bad thing. Oh well. Thanks for the txt to check up on me, Tom.

2) “Your focus needs more focus,” a line from the newer “Karate Kid” movie (I like the original better). In an effort to have more focus, I have a new office area in my bedroom. So today, armed with my new whiteboard of knowledge and wisdom, calendar, new notepad, laptop (minus social media) and a few other goodies, I set out for the day. Well, not to be proud but, I conquered today like Arthur conquered the sword in the stone. Like buttah! =) Don’t tell my boss. I don’t want to get his expectations up.

3) By the time I deleted bookmark folders, apps on my phone and even my new Facebook browser (Rockmelt), I realized how much time I spend on social media. Day one wasn’t even over and I was already disgusted with myself. I enjoy social media, but need to be more disciplined with it. I posted about that awhile back as well.

4) When you replace your social media time with time with God, you will be surprised how much of the book of Deuteronomy you can read.

5) This is obviously a spiritual journey for me. You might not do Lent, might not care about it and it might just not be your thing. But today was great for me. Simply replacing time on Facebook with time being focused on God and realigning myself with Him, was amazing. I was very aware of God’s presence in my life today. Sometimes, I get so wrapped up with the things I think are important, that I drown out what’s most important. I hope all 46 days are like this.

Like this:

I have never done anything for Lent. Never fasted. Never sacrificed anything. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

I always thought Lent was some weird holiday for Catholics (just being honest here). But it’s more than that. Lent is simply a time of preparation. It’s a 40 day preparation, leading up to the Holy Week (the week of Jesus’ death and resurrection).

I was out running tonight with a group of guys. I get together with them once a week (at least). We workout, run and even study together. It’s a great group. Tonight, we ended up on the subject of Lent. One of the guys in our group basically said, “We should do it. We should sacrifice something for Lent.” So, we decided to go for it.

Since Lent is a time of preparation through sacrifice, we will each be sacrificing something to God for 40 days. Each guy chose something that would be difficult for him to give up. The idea being that it would be something difficult, a challenge, something that would really be a sacrifice. One guy chose sweets, and another chose Mountain Dew.

What about me? I wasn’t sure what to give up. I was stuck.

So I went to my ever faithful wife and asked her what she thought. When I asked her to make it tough, I had no idea how tough she was going to go. Still, it’s a great challenge and I’m going to go forward with it.

For 40 days, I’m going to give up social media! (Isn’t she brutal?)

I’m exempting my blog from this fast/sacrifice. All other social media will go. Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Tumblr, Path, etc. 40 days. All gone. No comments. No posts. No status updates. No picture posts. Nothing.

My goal is to spend the time I would usually be on social media, reading Scripture, praying and clinging to God as Easter approaches.